


This Man is a Waterbender

by WannaDoAnActivity



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Based on a Tumblr Post, I told people i would do it and here we are, Let Toph Say Fuck, Let Zuko Say Fuck, Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), god i hope this doesn't suck, hello people of pinterest, no beta we die like men, takes place mid book 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 20:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30094533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WannaDoAnActivity/pseuds/WannaDoAnActivity
Summary: “Welcome to Pao’s family tea shop, I’m Lee what can I get you?”“Chaos.”“Understandable. Sadly that’s not on the menu, would you settle for a cup of Jasmine tea?”“Sure.”The one in which Toph goes into Iroh's tea shop while in Ba Sing Se and befriends Zuko on accident.Inspired by a post by Tumblr users: unfried-mouth-wheat, alexander-has-a-blog, and the-turtleduck-pond
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Iroh, Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 14
Kudos: 170





	This Man is a Waterbender

**Author's Note:**

> I am 99.9% certain that Toph and Zuko only met when they were fighting Azula in that abandoned town before this, so I think it's reasonable to believe that Zuko wouldn't recognize her.

“Welcome to Pao’s family tea shop, I’m Lee what can I get you?” 

“Chaos.” 

“Understandable. Sadly that’s not on the menu, would you settle for a cup of Jasmine tea?” 

“Sure.” 

Toph had gotten annoyed with the fancy house she had been living in with the Gaang and was wandering around the lower levels of Ba Sing Se. She had found this tea shop that seemed pretty popular and decided to go in. 

As much as she was disappointed that she couldn’t get the chaos she wanted, she wasn’t expecting to either. She wondered why the server would lie about his name, but his response to her chaos request was good enough for her to forgive him. People have their reasons and she had learned not to question some things over the years. 

She sat at one of the shorter chairs so that her feet could still touch the ground and observed her surroundings. Well- felt her surroundings. 

Given its popularity, it wasn’t too crowded, most likely because it was getting late. But she could tell that there were a few official Ba Sing Se guards behind her just from their conversation. She would have to be careful, she wouldn’t want to be caught in the outer circle. It was good that she hadn’t worn her normal clothes, otherwise, she would’ve been spotted immediately. 

“Here’s your tea Miss.” Tophs thoughts were interrupted by the server. 

“Oh, thanks, man.” She reached for the tea, kind of guessing where he was holding it. She must have missed because a second later he was pushing the cup into her hand. 

“Oh. Whoops. Thanks for that.” 

“No problem…” the server replied, sounding a bit suspicious. 

A few minutes passed and Toph was sipping her tea contently. She would have to come back here sometime, the tea really was good. Maybe she should bring Katara…

“Uncle, I can’t do that.” Toph suddenly heard.  
That was the server’s voice. Might as well listen in, it wasn’t like anything else interesting was happening.

“If you’re curious just ask her!” replied an older-sounding guy, who she assumed was another worker. 

“You can’t just ask people if they’re blind, Uncle, that’s rude.” 

Toph chuckled. Ah, so they were talking about her. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, it was actually pretty common. The old guy was actually right, she wouldn’t have minded at all if the server had just straight up asked her, it’s not like she was ashamed or anything. 

But then something clicked in her head. Wait…

“Wait I know that voice, and this tea!” Toph suddenly called, standing up. “You’re that old guy I met in the mountains!” 

The entire shop went quiet. Toph didn’t have to see to know that all eyes were on her. 

She heard a laugh from the old man. “Ah, you must’ve mistaken me for someone else.” He turned to address the shop. “Please everyone, go back to your tea.” 

This seemed to work, as voices started to rise from the tables from people starting up their small talk again. 

Toph sat back down. She knew the old man was lying, why had he lied? Maybe it was something to do with the guards sitting behind her…

“Sorry about all that,” the old man whispered, sitting down across from her along with the server. “I don’t want to draw too much attention to me and my nephew here. Remind me, where have we met before?” 

Ah, that was why. It made sense, considering they were in Ba Sing Se. There were some sketchy things going on around here. But that was a problem for another day. 

“We met when I was kind of wandering on my own, I think it was near a rice field or something.” 

The old man thought for a moment. “Hm… I’m sorry but I don’t think I remember you. I met a lot of people in my travels and had tea with a lot of them too,” he laughed while the server just face-planted.

The old man stood up, “I’ll go get you some more tea, talk to my nephew! He could use some friends.” 

“Uncle, I don’t-” 

“Socialize!” 

The server groaned. Toph just laughed. “So you said your name was Lee, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

Another lie. Why would someone need to lie about their name? She assumed it was for the same reason they didn’t want much attention but the question still stood. 

“So what’s your name?” Lee asked. 

“Toph. Nice to meet ya. Also to answer your question, yes, I am blind.” 

“I- what you- what?” Lee stuttered out. She could only imagine the face he was making right now. 

“Yeah, I overheard the conversation you and your uncle had earlier. Ya could’ve just asked me, I don’t mind.” 

“Oh… so you’re just out here on your own? And you’re blind?” 

“Yup! It’s not like I’m helpless though, because I can see! With my feet!” Toph stuck out her foot and pointed to it dramatically. 

Lee paused for a moment, “... Feet don’t have eyes though.” 

“What- no you idiot, I’m an earth bender. I feel vibrations through the earth and through those I can make out what’s in a room. So really I’m not blind at all!” 

“That- that’s a thing that earth benders can do?” 

“Yup! Not a lot of people know how though. I only know because I need to.” 

“If not a lot of people know how then how did you learn it?” 

“Badgermoles taught me.” 

Toph could almost hear his confused face. “Badgermoles taught you?” 

“Yup.”

Lee scoffed. “What did they raise you to?” 

“More than my parents ever did.” 

Lee choked on tea that she didn’t even know he was drinking. It took Toph a second to realize that he was laughing and not choking to death. 

“What? You think that’s funny?” Toph said through her own giggles. 

“I mean- yeah I-” Lee paused as he started to calm down. “No, that- that was funny. That was funny…” 

Toph chucked. Maybe this guy wasn’t half bad. “Are your parents shit too?” 

Toph suddenly felt his heart rate rise. “I… well I guess- I mean…” 

“Ah, touchy subject. It’s all good,” Toph interrupted. She was harsh but she wasn’t gonna make the poor guy talk about his trauma to a stranger. “Your uncle seems really nice though. He really helped me out that one time.” 

“Yeah… that sounds like him. I’m lucky to have him.” 

“Damn right you are! You know he talked about you a lot that one time we met.” 

“He- he did?” 

“Yup…” Toph took a sip of tea, remembering that one day. “He really cares about you man, I’m really glad he found you, he seems a lot happier now.” 

“Oh…” 

The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, until the old man came back. 

“You know, I’m surprised I don’t remember you,” the old man wondered out loud as he placed down tea for the three of them.

“I kind of am too. I mean, I know you probably met a lot of people, but it’s kinda difficult to forget a little blind girl.” 

“A little blind girl I met in the mountains…” 

Toph suddenly felt the old man’s heart rate rise by multitudes. What was it with random people stressing over random things today?

“Ah- Lee,” the old man stuttered as he grabbed his nephew by the arm. “I think we should go back to work.” 

“But you just brought out tea-” 

Lee was interrupted by the door slamming open. And an entirely new voice entered the room. 

“I’m tired of waiting…” 

\------------------------------------------

Zuko hadn’t expected to have to actually talk to a person today, yet here he was. 

While Toph probably would’ve been his first pick within the shop, given her request for chaos upon entering, it didn’t mean he wanted to talk at all. 

But he was pleasantly surprised when she was genuinely nice. Not the fake nice that he had gotten from nobles and servants throughout the years, but actual kindness. She didn’t hold back at all and she had a refreshing kind of edge to her. 

It was nice. 

Until it wasn’t. 

“Ah- Lee. I think we should get back to work.” Zuko cringed at the alias. It was still weird getting called that. 

“But you just brought out tea-” 

Zuko was promptly interrupted by someone slamming the door open. 

“I’m tired of waiting,” the person stated, walking in like he owned the place. 

Was that Jet-

“These two men are fire benders!” 

Zuko froze where he stood. He really hoped he had heard that wrong. 

Jet continued, drawing his weapons. “I know they’re fire benders! I saw the old man heating his tea!” 

“He works in a tea shop,” one of the guards commented, very confused. 

“He’s a fire bender! I’m telling you!” 

The two guards looked at each other before starting to stand. “Drop your swords boy, nice and easy.” 

Jet ignored the guard and started approaching Iroh. “You’ll have to defend yourself, then everyone will know. Go ahead, show them what you can do.” 

This was the last straw for Zuko. There was no way he could get away with threatening his uncle, friend or not. 

But just as he was about to approach Jet, a small hand hit his chest. He looked to see who dared stop him and- It was Toph. 

She took a step forward and spoke. “Clearly you need to get your eyes checked.” She pointed at Iroh dramatically. “This man is a water bender.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, sorry I had to do this in two parts but the last part will be out in at most a week. I hope you all enjoyed this first part though and I'll see you next time!


End file.
